BMW is marking a turning point in its history. Instead of employing workers, the German company will experiment with humanoids for certain tasks in its factories. This innovative technology is developed by Figure and will be implemented in the brand’s plant in Spartanburg, United States. Despite the importance of AI in the past year, other areas such as robotics also have a lot to offer the industry.
The company has announced that it will implement humanoid workers in its factories. For now, this way of working will only be applied in the South Carolina plant, where the brand employs 11,000 people. The arrival of the robots will be gradual over the next two years. Their number has not been specified, but the technology group assures that they will be used to perform difficult, tedious or dangerous tasks.
In the first phase, the company will analyze the tasks best suited to the robots’ capabilities and then train them for these tasks. A priori, it is believed that they could do a good job in warehouses or sheet metal workshops. The arrival of humanoids will mean considerable progress for the companies that implement them. They will increase productivity, reduce costs and create a safer working environment.
BMW will employ humanoids in one of its factories
According to PR Newswire, Robert Engelhorn, Chairman and CEO of BMW Manufacturing, said: “The automotive industry, and with it vehicle production, is evolving rapidly. BMW Manufacturing is committed to integrating innovative technologies into its systems. production to secure its future as an industry leader and innovator. The use of versatile robotic solutions has the potential to make productivity more efficient, meet the growing demands of our consumers and enable our team. focus on the transformation that awaits us.”
Brett Adcock, founder and CEO of Figure, said: “We designed the robot to be safe alongside humans. Working with BMW on automating a manufacturing plant is a great test of validation for us. Single-use robotics have saturated the commercial market for decades, but the potential of multi-purpose robotics is completely untapped.”
Figure 01: the robot that will revolutionize the work process at BMW
The startup’s robot is called Figure 01. It is 1.70 meters tall, weighs 60 kg and can lift objects weighing up to 20 kilos. It has a maximum battery life of 5 hours and can move at a speed of 1.2 meters per second. What sets this robot apart is its ability to operate using its built-in artificial intelligence system, similar to ChatGPT. This means he can learn how to do new tasks just by watching how-to videos.
Robots will have a place in different manufacturing processes, including the body shop, body shop and warehouse.
The same robot contracted by BMW became popular a few days ago when Figure posted images of the humanoid brewing coffee. Although there are several humanoid “workers” capable of performing various tasks, what is striking is that Figure 01 did not need more than ten hours of training to execute the preparation of a coffee.
The German company should mark a before and after in the industry, which is more attentive than ever to this technology. In a few years, we’ll know how productive Figure’s robots have become.